December 2018 Newsletter

President’s Message

Save the Date!

Spring Conference Update

The MS-AND Board and all of the committee members are hard at work continuing to plan for the Spring Conference which will be held in Pear, MS at the Clyde Muse Center on March 21-22, 2019. You can visit the website for the Muse Center at http://www.musecenter.org. We hope to have the agenda finalized and ready to send out to everyone in January along with other information concerning an evening social event as well as lodging and dining information.

Please keep visiting https://eatrightmississippi.org for more information in the coming weeks where we will be releasing this years theme and an overview of the speaker sessions.

Moving our Mississippi Affiliate Forward

At the 2018 MS-AND annual conference, the attending members voted to move our affiliate’s structure from a district-based organization to a regional based organization during the 2018-2019 business year. There are many benefits to a regional based organization:

Focus on providing member benefits versus finding district officers

More short term volunteer opportunities

Same great events for members with less effort by our volunteer leaders

Shift administrative work from the district to the state level leading to greater cooperation at all levels across Mississippi

Your MS-AND board members are in the process of talking with other states who have moved to a regional set up, working with members of leadership in the districts to regarding technical assistance as we make this transition, and developing a Q & A document as a reference tool.

The transition will officially take place June 1, 2019. We will keep you in the loop as we move forward in this exciting venture. Please contact our affiliate at msand@eatright.org if you have any questions.

Happy Holidays from the Mississippi State University Student Dietetic Association

Have You Checked Out the Updated eNCPT Yet?

The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics released an updated electronic Nutrition Care Process Terminology (eNCPT) to help subscribers work with or implement an electronic health record (EHR) that includes the Nutrition Care Process and eNCPT. The 2018 edition highlights include:

Improved recognition of reassessment as a part of the Nutrition Care Process

Change in criteria of nutrition assessment and reassessment data from reference standards and goals to reference standards, recommendations, and/or goals.

Replacement of ‘patient/client’ with ‘client’ in the Nutrition Assessment and Diagnosis sections to move toward more people centered language

The Nutrition Care Process (NCP) is a systematic method that nutrition and dietetics practitioners use to plan, provide, and evaluate nutrition care for individuals and populations. It involves four steps: 1) assessment, 2) diagnosis, 3) intervention, and 4) monitoring and evaluation.

The NCP is supported with the standardized terminology of the eNCPT, which facilitates documentation and communication of the four steps of the NCP. The new terminology is specific to the Nutrition Intervention step, defined as purposefully planned actions intended to positively change a nutrition-related behavior, environmental condition, or aspect of health status for an individual or population.

Mississippi Voices Needed for Academy Committees

You have a fantastic opportunity available to you – to serve on a national-level committee or taskforce with the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. The work of these group support the strategic plan of The Academy – which intern supports your fellow Mississippians.

Please fill out the survey by January 9, 2019 to be considered for any of the positions available.

If Dietetics is Your Profession, Policy Should Be Your Passion!

The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics Political Action Committee is the only political action committee broadly focused on food, nutrition and health.

A Political Action Committee (called a PAC) is a group that collects contributions from its members and then uses the pooled fund to support political candidates. The ANDPAC ranks among the top health professional political action committees in the country. The goal of ANDPAC is to support pro-nutrition candidates for federal office. ANDPAC offers Academy members the opportunity to explore many of the issues and activities involving political action and dietetics, as well as a directory of relevant links. It is important for Mississippi registered dietitian nutritionists; nutrition and dietetics technicians, registered; dietetic interns and students to support ANDPAC as they work for policies that effect our passion for food, nutrition and dietetics.

SCAN Dietetic Internship Award

The 2018-2019 SCAN Dietetic Internship Awards (fiscal year June 1-May 31) will be given out in the Spring of 2019. We will award 5 stipends of $500 to defray expenses associated with dietetic internships such as DICAS, D&D Digital Matching, application fees, tuition, and books.

All SCAN members including students are invited to submit abstracts for the 2019 Symposium Poster Session. Submissions using the official application form only must be sent in to info@scandpg.orgon Monday, January 7th, 2019 by5:00 PM (CST).

Abstract acceptance will be based on a peer review process and relevance SCAN’s mission.

Decisions on acceptance will be made and applicants notified mid February.

A call for Late Breaking Abstracts will be sent mid-February with a submission deadline of March 22, 2019 by5:00 PM (CST). Notification of acceptance will be sent by Monday, April 1, 2019.

Posters will be judged and cash prizes will be awarded to the first-place poster in each of three categories: Professional, Graduate Student, and Undergraduate Student. Winners will be announced at the SCAN Symposium.

Abstract Submission

Content and formatting instructions as provided on the Criteria and Application Form for 2019 Symposium Poster Sessionmust be followed exactly. Student submissions must include a letter from the faculty advisor approving the abstract for consideration and containing the advisor’s email address. Abstracts must conform to one of the following categories:

Research abstracts contain a brief description of author’s original research, methodology, major findings, and conclusions or implications for practice.

Project or program report abstracts contain information about the purpose of the project or program; the theory or previous research upon which it is based; the unique characteristics of the project or program; the characteristics of the subjects or target audience involved and the type of evaluation for the project or program.

Excellence in practice tools and strategies abstracts contain a description of the author’s innovative practice tools or strategies, methodology, targeted audience, an explanation of application in practice, and evaluation outcomes, if available.

MS-AND Member Spotlight

What do you like most about you’re studying?– What I love most about what I am studying is the diversity in the field. There are so many different opportunities offered to us through nutrition and I know I have only seen a little bit of it. As I spend more time on this career path, I look forward to the different interests I will pick up along the way and hope to impact others through nutrition.

What is your favorite hobby/pastime outside of work? – My current hobby outside of work is reading. It is a great way to unwind after a long day of studying or working in the research lab.

What is your favorite place to visit in Mississippi and why? – My favorite place to visit is Southaven, MS. This is home for me and since I have been gone to college different things have been built so it is always fun to go back and see what new things there are to do. Seeing how things have changed but also how some things are the same!